Too little, much too late

Reuters posts this news which is now being disseminated by many newspapers:

Delhi Commonwealth Games chief Suresh Kalmadi and another top official were sacked by the Indian Sports Ministry on Monday as investigations continue into corruption allegations surrounding the October Games.

Ajay Maken, who replaced Manohar Singh Gill as the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister on Wednesday, said Games Organising Committee chairman Kalmadi and secretary general Lalit Bhanot have been dismissed with immediate effect.

“…the move comes in light of the ongoing investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation over allegations of corruption and irregularities in organisation and conduct of Commonwealth Games 2010 and…in the interest of impartial and unhindered investigations,” Maken’s office said in a statement.

Much too late isn’t it? The Delhi Commonwealth games cost India around Rs. 12,000 crores. That’s a whopping 68 milliRajas (a scale of corruption where Rs. 176,000 crores is unity).

Mr. Manohar Singh Gill was the Chief Election Commissioner once upon a time. That is an independent constitutional post which is supposed by many to uphold the highest of standards. In his avatar as sports minister Mr. Gill clearly did not live up to those standards. Now the question one is entitled to ask is whether he has double standards, or whether his integrity was always the same.